Smiles All Around
Kristen Holzherr Photo
Well, the 2010 Penn Relays have come to a close, but the memories of an electrifying Saturday afternoon will long live on.
As the crowd swelled early, Franklin Field had a unique feel of anticipation. The place erupted when Usain Bolt and his Jamaican teammates walked onto the infield to stretch and warm up. [...]
Goodnight . . . . The Hall
Thanks for visiting our blog during this 3 day meet. We had record attendance, record enthusiasm, and some great races. I hope that you enjoyed our coverage, combined with the live feed from flotrack. If you are in the area next year, we would love to see you at historic Franklin Field in person. I [...]
College Women’s 4×400 Championship
UTech wins for the second year in a row, with a 3:31.54–3:32.34 victory over Oregon. Stephenie McPherson’s 51.06 anchor leg was decisive.
Texas A&M (3:32.86) and Penn State (3:33.06) were third and fourth. Fawn Dorr ran a fantastic third leg in 52.05 for Penn State to give the Nittany Lions the lead at the final exchange.
Full [...]
High School Boys 4×400 Championship
Always one of our loudest and most popular races is the high school 4×400 championship. This year’s edition had arguably the fastest group of seeds of any 4×400 we have ever had – 3:16 didn’t even make the final ! Additionally, we had Cheltenham PA, a local team that ran 3:13 in the trials, qualify [...]
USA vs The World Women’s 4×400
Debbie Dunn opened up a big lead for USA Blue on the first leg, which Lashinda Demus maintained, despite a challenge from Jamaica’s Novlene Williams. Same thing on the third leg: Dee Dee Trotter (USA Blue) held off Kaliese Spencer (Jamaica). USA Blue’s Allyson Felix wrapped things up easily on the anchor 3:26.12.
(Note: Sanya Richards-Ross [...]
College Men’s 4×800 Championship
Virginia wins its first Penn Relays men’s Championship of America since 1943 with a 7:15.38 clocking.
On the opening leg, Owen Dawson handed off first for Penn State with everyone still in contention.
Casimir Loxsom kept the Nittany Lions in the lead on the second leg, thanks to the day’s fastest split, 1:46.58. Lance Roller moved Virginia [...]
High School Boys 4×800 Championship
We have had a great race in the HSB 4×800. After the first two legs, it was Warwick Valley (NY), Long Beach Poly (CA), and Kingston College (JA) in a great three team race. Warwick Valley made a solid move before the last handoff, taking a small lead on Poly. At the bell, Warwick Valley [...]
54,310!
The biggest crowd in the 116-year history of the Penn Relays packed into Franklin Field today and when the counting was done, 54,310 fans were on hand, nearly 3,500 more than the previous mark set in 2002.
The Relays also drew 117,346 fans over three days, also more than 3,000 better than ever before. The old [...]
Saturday Field Event Highlights
It’s been another busy day for jumpers and throwers. Here are the championship-division winners:
Olympic Development Men
• Jacob Freeman (NYAC) won the hammer throw with a 229′ 11″ (70.08) toss. That’s his second straight win in the event, and he also won the college division twice (2001, 2002) for Manhattan College. Results.
Olympic Development Women
• Toni Smith [...]
Straightaway Finals
College Women’s 100-meter hurdles: Queen Harrison (Virginia Tech) takes the lead at the third hurdle and goes on to win in 12.61 a new Penn Relays record (wind: +1.1). Results.
Olympic Development women’s 100-meter hurdles: Former Michigan star Tiffany Ofili wins in 13.06 (wind: +0.3). Results.
College men’s 110-meter hurdles: Barrett Nugent (LSUO wins in 13.58 (wind: [...]
USA-vs-The World Men’s Distance Medley
Perhaps overshadowed by the events in the 4×100, the USA-vs-The-World Distance Medley has a fantastic slate. This event produced the World Best and the American record in the 2006 edition. Both Kenya and Morocco have outstanding fields in this race, including Amine Laalou.
Our 1200 leg was in 2:52, with Kenya with a slight lead. USA [...]
USA vs The World Men’s 4×100
Usain Bolt did not disappoint the heavily Jamaican crowd, blistering the anchor leg on the 4×100 to give Jamaica Gold the victory in 37.90. FinishLynx timed Bolt’s split at 8.79!
USA Blue (38.33) and USA Red (38.50) finished second and third.
Full results can be found here.
USA vs The World Women’s 4×100
Team USA wins for the sixth straight year. Lisa Barber, Allyson Felix, Mikele Barber, Carmelita Jeter get the stick around in 42.74 for “USA Blue.” Jeter held off a strong charge from Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser, who brought the Jamaicans home second in 42.94.
Full results can be found here.
College Women’s 4×800 Championship
LSU’s Charlene Lipsey took it out hard and immediately set the stage for a great run. Tennessee’s Kimarra McDonald handed off in second, about five meters back.
On the second leg Tennessee’s Chanelle Price gradually closed down on LSU’s Kayann Thompson, but Thompson had a final burst to maintain the lead.
The third leg was the battle [...]
USA vs. The World Women’s Sprint Medley
Our first professional race is the women’s sprint medley. This has a great set of runners, including the anchor of last year’s world best, Kenia Sinclair. The US will also have Anna Willard Pierce, winner of the World Athletic Final in the 800m, on the anchor of one of the USA teams.
Usain Bolt Is In The House
Usain Bolt has arrived at Franklin Field. He’s warming up on the infield and the crowd is loving it. Speaking of the crowd, check out this photo: The upper deck is filled with fans—many of them sporting the green, gold and black of Jamaica.
College Men’s 4×100 Championship
Texas A&M used excellent exchanges to destroy the field in 39.08, a full eight-tenths up on UTech (39.88). The Aggies won for the second straight year.
Results can be found here.
College Men’s 4xMile
Our first championship of this afternoon is the college men’s 4xMile. Certainly Oregon might be considered the favorite in this race. Many have felt that the 16:04 relays record, held by Michigan with Nick Willis, may be in jeopardy.
Oregon is running this race without Andrew Wheating, perhaps saving him for what appears to be an [...]
USA vs. The World Line-ups
Tentative line-ups for today’s USA vs The World races have been announced. Click on the events below to see who is scheduled to run:
Event 233: Women’s Sprint Medley (1:50pm)
Event 236: Women’s 4×100 (2:30pm)
Event 241: Men’s 4×100 (2:50pm)
Event 243: Men’s Distance Medley (3:00pm)
Event 256: Men’s 4×400 (4:55pm)
Event 258: Women’s 4×400 (5:10pm)
Saturday at the Relays
We are underway at the track and currently in the midst of almost four hours of heats of the high school boys 4×400. As they aim to qualify for the championship later today, you can track the ranked list here.
The weather forecast is excellent so it’s not too late to get out to Franklin Field. [...]
The LaTavia Thomas Show (College SMR)
Our next championship in this flurry is the set of Sprint Medleys (200m, 200m, 400m, 800m), with women followed by men.
The women’s race was won by LSU, anchored by LaTavia Thomas. This is the fourth year in a row that Thomas has anchored LSU’s winning sprint medley relay. No other female athlete in meet history [...]
High School Girls 4×400 Championship
Jamaica’s Holmwood Tech completes an astonishing day with a 3:39.66 victory. Earlier Holmwood won the 4×100 and 4×800 championships. That’s the third time Holmwood has pulled that triple (2001, 2006) and only the eighth time any school has won three championships in one year. (Vere Tech has the all-time record, with four wins back in [...]
High School Boys Distance Races
Pat Schelleberg (Delbarton School, NJ) took the lead just before the half mile and opened up a margin of 15 meters at the bell (3:05) and finished in 4:08.07, to just get under the Penn Relays record of 4:08.13, run last year by Canadian Jeremy Rae.
Isaac Presson (Asheville, NC) closed fast to take second in [...]